Wide Implications In Rail Crew Dispute

July 31, 1988|By Carol Jouzaitis.

On a sweltering freight train run to Iowa, four crew members agonized over whether two of their jobs should be abolished, an issue threatening to halt commuter train service to 41,000 Chicago-area riders this week.

More is at stake than the jobs of crewmen or the convenience of passengers. The outcome of the bitter confrontation at the Chicago & North Western will likely set a work-rule precedent and resolve a dispute that has divided unions and the nation`s railroads for four decades, a fact not lost on the crewmen.

``It could have been settled long ago,`` declared brakeman Mitch Douglas, one of the four C&NW crewmen. ``But the union and management are like bullheaded children,`` he said. ``The company wants the union to give up everything. And the union just says, `No, we won`t do it.` ``

He and fellow workers readily concede that freight trains are overmanned, though they emphatically disagree with the railroad`s desire to cut crews in half.

``The days are gone when we needed a full crew,`` Douglas said. ``Things aren`t like they were 40 or 50 years ago.``

``I don`t want to lose my job, but I don`t blame the company for wanting to cut back,`` said brakeman Ken Eichmann, a third-generation railroader.

``But if the North Western cuts back to two-man crews, all railroads would cut back; it would be disastrous,`` Eichmann said. ``Two-thirds of the men would be affected.``

He conceded, though, that on some runs ``we don`t do anything. We just sit there like bumps on a log.``

Under the C&NW`s union contracts, a ``full`` crew consists of four or five workers: an engineer to run the locomotive, a conductor to make sure all work orders and operating rules are followed, two brakemen and, on some trains, a fireman.

On the C&NW train pulling out of the Canalport yard last week, the brakemen`s workload was indeed light.

The 36-car train, hauling truck trailers on flatcars, was a ``through``

train, scheduled to stop only at two designated crew-change points on the way to its destination, Fremont, Neb.

The train chugged through the yard with engineer Bob Colson at the throttle. Brakeman Douglas clambered down from the locomotive two or three times to check the switches routing the train onto the proper track.

Soon the train turned onto the railroad`s east-west main line. As it picked up speed, the two brakemen retired to the second locomotive until a crew change at Clinton, Ia.

``On this train, once we get onto the main line, we just sit there and watch the train as it goes around the curves and make sure everything`s all right,`` Eichmann said.

It was a 3 1/2-hour trip to Clinton, 139 miles west of Chicago. After a fresh crew took over, the others spent the night in C&NW barracks there. The next morning, they were assigned to work an eastbound train that carried them back to Chicago.

Conductor Bob Noah, a 30-year railroad veteran, maintained that the idea of a two-man crew is ``ridiculous,`` because of the potential for mechanical breakdowns or other problems.

``You never know what`ll happen out here,`` Noah said. ``Things can go wrong. You never know when (a brakeman) will be needed.``

Many other major railroads are operating portions of their lines with reduced staffing through local union agreements affecting specific jobs.

But the North Western is seeking broader concessions. It maintains that almost all its trains can run efficiently and safely without any brakemen, because technology has eliminated the work they once performed.

The railroad wants to run the vast majority of its trains with just an engineer and a conductor. A brakeman would be added on a small number of trains that make a lot of work stops.

``We`re at the edge of solving this issue,`` said Robert Schmiege, president of the C&NW, the nation`s ninth-largest railroad. ``Good, bad or indifferent, what we do will set a precedent in the industry.``

If there`s no settlement by Thursday, the railroad said, it will eliminate the jobs of 1,150 of its 2,600 union train crew workers. It plans to use managers and hire temporary workers to keep its freight trains rolling

Commuter train crews would not be affected by the crew cut, since they require extra workers to take tickets and ensure passenger safety, the C&NW said. But, the railroad, citing safety reasons, said that in the event of a strike there will be no attempt to operate passenger service.

On freight trains, the railroad contends, brakemen`s jobs exist only because the union has stubbornly clung to archaic contracts written at the turn of the century.

The industry`s work rules, for instance, require that crews be paid for a full day-about $100 for a brakeman-after traveling 108 miles, even though today`s engines speed along at 60 miles an hour.

The formula is based on the distance (100 miles) that the old steam engines could travel in eight hours. It was not until 1985 that unions agreed to increase the daily trip length to 108 miles.